Aberdeen’s impressive run of form was brought to an end in emphatic fashion by an excellent Hamilton Accies at New Douglas Park tonight.
The Dons struggled to contain the intense, pressing game of the Accies, who extended their lead at the of the Scottish Premiership to four points against an Aberdeen team who had no answer to the tempo they were being asked to play at.
The league newcomers did not give their opponents a minute’s rest in a high-octane 90 minute display. They hunted in packs for the ball, used it well and took their chances in front of goal.
In fact it was everything which was missing from the Aberdeen performance in what was an unusually low-key and decidedly off-colour showing from the Dons.
In short Accies were hungrier, sharper, better in every department.
Despite claiming he was a week away from playing, Dons manager Derek McInnes sprung a pre-match surprise when he named Ryan Jack in his starting 11.
The midfielder, who has been absent due to a knee ligament injury, has been sorely missed by his club and after watching his Aberdeen team beat Dundee 3-2 in a game which was too open for his liking, it was no surprise to see Jack pitched back in at the earliest opportunity.
The other change was the return of Jonny Hayes with Niall McGinn and Peter Pawlett dropping to the bench.
The need for greater protection was understandable against the Scottish Premiership’s surprise team so far, who proudly sit top of the league and went into this game having not conceded a goal in the last four matches.
McInnes spent the entire week extolling the virtues of Alex Neil’s side and it was not hard to see why in the opening minutes. Accies pressed the Dons at every opportunity, forcing a couple of early corners in the process.
Aberdeen looked to have weathered the early storm but the home side were not to be denied and their early pressure paid off with 15 minutes played.
Former Caley Thistle forward Dougie Imrie took advantage of a poor headed clearance to lift the ball over the advancing Jamie Langfield, who had committed himself, and Tony Andreu was on hand to knock the ball into the empty net to give Accies the lead with their first attempt on target.
The Dons were reeling and Accies surged forward in search of a second, but one attack from the home side should have led to the equaliser as Andreu’s shot was blocked by Andrew Considine. The ricochet sent Adam Rooney clear on goal but he fired straight at Michael McGovern in the home goal.
The chance injected some much needed attacking impetus into the visitors, who had struggled to impose themselves in the final third before Rooney’s chance, and a well worked move resulted in David Goodwillie also running clear of goal but he too saw his shot saved by the former Ross County goalkeeper.
Mickael Antoine Curier’s size caused Ashton Taylor and Considine, who had been moved to centre-half to combat his threat, no end of problems but for all their pressing intensity and attacking intent, the goal was the only chance of note from the home side in the first half and McInnes must have been relieved to see his side only one goal behind at the break.
Something had to change and McInnes replaced Considine with Pawlett for the second half.
Mark Reynolds moved back to central defence, Hayes dropped back to left back and Pawlett played wide left of midfield as the Dons tried to get back into the game.
But it was the right hand side where the Dons had been exposed in the first half and within minutes of the restart Accies exposed the gaps again as Danny Redmond took advantage of the space left by Shay Logan, getting in behind the Aberdeen defence before cutting the ball back to Andreu to score his second of the game and give the home side the two-goal cushion their play merited.
Accies showed no sign of relinquishing their grip on the game, prompting the Dons manager to go for broke, sending on McGinn for the tiring Barry Robson in the hope of finding a goal to give his team hope.
It almost paid off as the Northern Ireland international headed the ball across goal for Rooney but the attacker failed to connect with his diving header.
McGinn went close with two free kicks as Aberdeen huffed and puffed for a goal but the closest they came was a point blank header from substitute Lawrence Shankland, which was saved by McGovern.
With the Dons caught pushing it was inevitable the fragile backline would be exposed and Accies sealed a resounding win in injury-time when Dougie Imrie crossed for Antoine Curier to score the third.